Tag Archives: Gary Meskil

The Final Revolution, the latest release from veteran New York based hardcore band Pro-Pain, is the first great hard rock record of 2014. The band’s album, its fourteenth, displays a band that shows no sign of stopping, despite its title. The album dozen tracks total just over half an hour. Yes that’s short. But in that time, the band—Gary Meskil (vocals/bass), Adam Phillips (Lead Guitar), Marshall Stephens (Rhythm Guitar), and Jonas Sanders (drums)—offers its fans a collection of songs that will hit them like a musical megaton bomb. It all starts with the relentless ‘Deathwish.’ Meskil and company grab listeners by the ear from the opening moments of this speed/thrash metal style song and refuse to let go even after the song’s end. Considering that this band has been running full steam since 1991, the merciless metal onslaught of this song as an opener is quite the re-introduction for Meskil and company. The official video for the song is available online now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2tEetO2eSU.

This critic has already noted that the members of Pro-Pain refuse to back down at any point in the band’s new album. Every song on this new record will have purist metal heads proudly raising their horns high. ‘One Shot, One Kill’, the album’s second song exhibits this quite well. It is just as brutal as ‘Deathwish.’ As brutal as it is, it doesn’t have the same speed/thrash metal style sound. This song’s style is more straight hardcore. All four of the band’s members work with the same precision in this song, as the military figures that don the album. One can so easily see this being a fan favorite both on record and live. It would be so easy to see fans singing along, fists pumping in the air as Meskil and company scream, “One shot/One kill” in the song’s bridge and final moments. Guitarist Adam Phillips shines in the bridge as he drives through his solo. He shows that he is no lightweight. Listeners will note that Phillips’ solo is akin to the style of Arch Enemy’s Michael Amott and Slipknot’s own Mick Thompson. And it isn’t the only spot on this album in which he and his fellow musicians so expertly exhibit their talents, either.

One more example of what makes The Final Revolution such a strong new album from Pro-Pain is the full on anthem that is ‘Want Some?’ Meskil screams in this song, “Can you see the hate and pain in my eyes/The way they seem to cut through you/The wrath of a billion tortured souls/Will come crashing down through/This God forsaken place called Earth/And leave a voice so well-deserved/In this life you get what you give/So listen up/For if you want some/You better come quick/And come clean/Before reality hits you like a brick.” He leaves absolutely no question as to what he is saying here. He doesn’t stop here, writing in the song’s second verse, “I don’t give a f*** what was said/I listen to the voices in my head/Before I take note of what you say/On this particular s***** day/Division has reached a feverous pitch/And in the end, we won’t be missed…” This is full on defiance in every sense of the word. The outright defiance mixed with the song’s pummeling musical side makes this song one of the highest of highs on The Final Revolution. And it would again be no surprise if it becomes a fan favorite for this reason both in on record in a live setting. The same can be said of the other songs noted in this review. Fans will get to hear each of these songs and all of the album’s others when it drops on January 21st, 2014. The band is currently touring Europe in support of its upcoming album. More tour dates are planned. Fans can keep up with all of the latest tour updates, news, and more from Pro-Pain while they await the album’s release on the band’s official website and Facebook pages at http://www.pro-pain.com and https://www.facebook.com/pages/PRO-PAIN-OFFICIAL-PAGE/215861125115781. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Pro-Pain’s new album, “Straight To The Dome” is pure, pro rock. This veteranNew Yorkbased hardcore act is as loud and brutal as ever on its thirteenth full length studio release. Hatebreed being out on the road, touring, Pro-Pain does an excellent job filling in with a brand new album that is without a shadow of a doubt, one of the year’s best rock/metal records.

“Straight To The Dome” opens with pure hardcore ferocity in its title track and refuses to look back with even the slightest fleeting glance. The title track is a blistering, defiant song that comes across very much in the style of Hatebreed, lyrically. Vocalist/bassist Gary Meskil (who looks eerily like wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin—which means this reviewer would not want to make him mad) seems to be speaking of standing up to anyone who would try to kick a person down. He and the band sing, “He’s coming back for more/he said/you’re no friend of mine/don’t cross that line/right now you need to stop.” It really comes across as a song that emphasizes self empowerment and not letting people get you down. That could very well be an incorrect interpretation. That is just this critic’s opinion. It may not be the longest song on this album. But it is one of the album’s best, and a perfect re-introduction to this veteran hardcore band.

The band doesn’t let up even the slightest bit after the album’s opener/title track. Right after that song, the band launches into an equally scathing song in ‘Payback.’ Meskil writes in this song, “Took for granted all the things that you’ve got/protected/neglected/any food for thought/your shallow/your narrow world’s closing in/ever so quickly/as payback begins/Goodbye!/Farewell!/You get on my nerves/In the end/You get what you deserve!.” Meskil and his band mates go on in the song’s chorus, “Payback!/for how you act!/Payback!/You get what you deserve!” The band leaves little room for guessing here. The scathing lyrical attack combined with the equally pummeling music makes this one more of so many greats on this record.

In another of the album’s numerous hit tracks, the band has what seems something of an anti-war song in ‘Bloodlust for War.’ Meskil writes in this song, “shattered lives/are left in ruins/with no one left at all/to pick up the pieces/nobody’s at a loss/desensitized/who would’ve thought?/war is in the air/and we couldn’t care less. The song goes on in very similar fashion, lyrically. It may not be the first anti-war song ever written. But it definitely is hard hitting. It even touches on how soldiers are taught to become killing machines, as he writes, “Lord please take away the pain/so I’ll be free to kill again/cause that is what I live for.” The message here is clear to say the least.

Whether it be the seeming protest song that is ‘Bloodlust for War’, ‘Payback’ or even the pummeling opener that is the album’s title track, Pro-Pain’s new album is one that long time fans of this band will love, and new fans will love just as much, if not more. And it’s one more album that any true metal head will love both for its music and its no nonsense lyrics that epitomize all that’s right with the hardcore genre. Simply put, “Straight To The Dome” will hit straight to the core for every true purist metal head out there. It is without a doubt, one of the best metal/rock albums of 2012.